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Procedure price report · Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology)

Stool exam for parasites and parasite eggs

CPT 87177the billing code this page is about

Laboratory concentration of a specimen, usually stool, followed by direct microscope slides to look for and identify worms, worm eggs, and other parasites.

Hospitals typically charge $51 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,255 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $56. Most fall between $20 and $110 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,255
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 25, 2026

Median: half of hospitals filed less, half more — and it is a price some hospital actually filed. Average of the middle 60%: the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain average, the lowest or the highest price: the extremes in hospital price files are chargemaster artefacts, not prices anyone pays.

What hospitals charge, from cheapest to most expensive

Cash price percentiles, outpatient, across 3,255 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$11$25$51$98$157

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($11 vs $157).

How the prices are spread

$9 – $12: 207 hospitals$9$12 – $17: 185 hospitals$17 – $24: 241 hospitals$17$24 – $34: 328 hospitals$34 – $47: 426 hospitals$34$47 – $66: 387 hospitals$66 – $92: 432 hospitals$66$92 – $128: 379 hospitals$128 – $180: 248 hospitals$128$180 – $251: 98 hospitals$180median $51price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,931 of 3,255 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$9$12207
$12$17185
$17$24241
$24$34328
$34$47426
$47$66387
$66$92432
$92$128379
$128$180248
$180$25198

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $51.

Alaska: median $105 across 19 hospitalsAK$105Maine: median $42 across 28 hospitalsME$42Vermont: median $98 across 13 hospitalsVT$98New Hampshire: median $69 across 21 hospitalsNH$69Washington: median $59 across 76 hospitalsWA$59Idaho: median $39 across 23 hospitalsID$39Montana: median $59 across 31 hospitalsMT$59North Dakota: median $52 across 27 hospitalsND$52Minnesota: median $51 across 104 hospitalsMN$51Illinois: median $75 across 142 hospitalsIL$75Wisconsin: median $63 across 102 hospitalsWI$63Michigan: median $30 across 82 hospitalsMI$30New York: median $28 across 115 hospitalsNY$28Massachusetts: median $59 across 52 hospitalsMA$59Oregon: median $53 across 50 hospitalsOR$53Nevada: median $51 across 18 hospitalsNV$51Wyoming: median $37 across 16 hospitalsWY$37South Dakota: median $119 across 36 hospitalsSD$119Iowa: median $49 across 79 hospitalsIA$49Indiana: median $41 across 95 hospitalsIN$41Ohio: median $40 across 135 hospitalsOH$40Pennsylvania: median $44 across 122 hospitalsPA$44New Jersey: median $10 across 57 hospitalsNJ$10Connecticut: median $40 across 22 hospitalsCT$40Rhode Island: median $26 across 10 hospitalsRI$26California: median $21 across 139 hospitalsCA$21Utah: median $150 across 42 hospitalsUT$150Colorado: median $89 across 67 hospitalsCO$89Nebraska: median $86 across 77 hospitalsNE$86Missouri: median $43 across 76 hospitalsMO$43Kentucky: median $71 across 69 hospitalsKY$71West Virginia: median $27 across 41 hospitalsWV$27Virginia: median $60 across 73 hospitalsVA$60Maryland: median $109 across 41 hospitalsMD$109Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $62 across 42 hospitalsAZ$62New Mexico: median $78 across 22 hospitalsNM$78Kansas: median $53 across 86 hospitalsKS$53Arkansas: median $19 across 40 hospitalsAR$19Tennessee: median $30 across 75 hospitalsTN$30North Carolina: median $33 across 89 hospitalsNC$33South Carolina: median $107 across 51 hospitalsSC$107Oklahoma: median $54 across 72 hospitalsOK$54Louisiana: median $30 across 50 hospitalsLA$30Mississippi: median $35 across 57 hospitalsMS$35Alabama: median $46 across 43 hospitalsAL$46Georgia: median $68 across 110 hospitalsGA$68Hawaii: median $68 across 21 hospitalsHI$68Texas: median $68 across 238 hospitalsTX$68Florida: median $30 across 152 hospitalsFL$30
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $51. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT42$150+195%$124 – $177
South Dakota SD36$119+134%$72 – $232
Maryland MD41$109+114%$80 – $130
South Carolina SC51$107+109%$66 – $110
Alaska AK19$105+106%$53 – $159
Vermont VT13$98+93%$25 – $130
Colorado CO67$89+75%$29 – $129
Nebraska NE77$86+69%$36 – $126
New Mexico NM22$78+53%$42 – $163
Illinois IL142$75+47%$28 – $131
Kentucky KY69$71+39%$27 – $130
New Hampshire NH21$69+35%$29 – $137
Texas TX238$68+33%$26 – $206
Hawaii HI21$68+33%$45 – $98
Georgia GA110$68+33%$23 – $106
Wisconsin WI102$63+23%$38 – $108
Arizona AZ42$62+22%$15 – $158
Virginia VA73$60+18%$16 – $131
Washington WA76$59+16%$38 – $119
Massachusetts MA52$59+16%$31 – $110
Montana MT31$59+16%$26 – $98
Oklahoma OK72$54+5%$27 – $107
Kansas KS86$53+5%$40 – $89
Oregon OR50$53+3%$29 – $94
North Dakota ND27$52+2%$16 – $74
Minnesota MN104$51+1%$17 – $80
Nevada NV18$51−1%$14 – $85
Iowa IA79$49−4%$35 – $73
Alabama AL43$46−10%$15 – $107
Pennsylvania PA122$44−14%$13 – $105
Missouri MO76$43−15%$25 – $95
Maine ME28$42−17%$20 – $65
Indiana IN95$41−20%$16 – $77
Connecticut CT22$40−21%$27 – $74
Ohio OH135$40−22%$27 – $71
Idaho ID23$39−23%$19 – $85
Wyoming WY16$37−27%$19 – $99
Mississippi MS57$35−31%$18 – $57
North Carolina NC89$33−36%$20 – $100
Michigan MI82$30−41%$11 – $54
Florida FL152$30−41%$10 – $172
Louisiana LA50$30−41%$20 – $61
Tennessee TN75$30−41%$16 – $87
New York NY115$28−45%$20 – $99
West Virginia WV41$27−47%$26 – $84
Rhode Island RI10$26−50%$15 – $71
California CA139$21−59%$7 – $63
Arkansas AR40$19−63%$8 – $71
New Jersey NJ57$10−80%$10 – $31
Delaware DE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price

Hospitals like yours

The same distribution cut by the kind of hospital. Hospital type and ownership come from CMS; a hospital counts as part of a system when its price file is shared with at least one other hospital under the same brand. The national median is $51.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,250$46$17 – $111
Children’s63$62$27 – $124
Critical access932$59$28 – $107
Ownership
For-profit451$81$23 – $287
Government607$50$23 – $100
Non-profit2,187$47$18 – $104
System affiliation
Part of a system2,636$51$18 – $110
Independent619$51$23 – $105

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$87
Median cash price$51
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. The share is the median of each hospital’s own cash ÷ list ratio, over hospitals that filed both — not the ratio of the two medians above.

The same procedure, inpatient

2,175 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $52 and the average of the middle 60% is $56; most fall between $20 and $108.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,175 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$13$25$52$98$150

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($13 vs $150).

Of the 2,416 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,175 gave a usable cash price; 131 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 110 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,255 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (82%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,557 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,255
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here173
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded128
Hospitals that filed this code3,557

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • Since our last snapshot: there is no earlier snapshot at least 90 days older than this one yet.

We last checked these hospitals’ price files for changes between July 20, 2026 and September 25, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 25, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC Ova & Parasites(O&P).

Method

Source
The machine-readable price files every U.S. hospital is required by CMS to publish, parsed per hospital. Nothing is surveyed, sampled or modelled.
What counts
One cash (self-pay) price per hospital for this code and setting. A hospital’s own filing can rule its number out — a placeholder, a “not applicable” note, a list price standing in for cash — and our plausibility checks can flag a price far below what every other hospital files. Both kinds are disclosed above and excluded from the statistics; on the compare tool a flagged price is still shown.
Statistics
Percentiles are discrete: each is a price some hospital filed. The average is the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain mean, the minimum or the maximum. A state needs 10 hospitals and a segment 20 to show a figure; otherwise the row shows its count and no number. Medicare is the national unadjusted OPPS rate where one exists.
Names
Procedure names on these pages are our own plain-language titles, not the AMA’s copyrighted CPT descriptors. The code is the identity.

The full rules — sources, statistics, thresholds, limitations — are on the methodology page.

Download this page’s figures: JSON · CSV. Aggregates only — the per-hospital prices are on the compare tool.

Cite: HospitalRates.com, “Stool exam for parasites and parasite eggs (CPT 87177) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87177-stool-exam-for-parasites-and-parasite-eggs